Tamil Nadu: A YouTuber Is Attacked And The Needle Of Suspicion Points To State Congress Chief

Just as the national television news channels were relentlessly focused on Kunal Kamra and the act of vandalism by Shiv Sena at the Habitat Studio in Mumbai, 24 March, down south in Tamil Nadu, vandals descended on the house of YouTuber and nominal journalist Savukku Shakar, when his old mother was alone at home, and created havoc by  ransacking the place and dumping human faecal matter and sewage all over the house.

As an attack, it was much worse than physical violence—it was to shame every shred of human dignity in every way possible. This was aimed not at causing bodily harm, but to crush the person's soul.

Sadly, it looks like the attackers accomplished their motive. Shankar announced last night that he was discontinuing his media work as he did not want any more harm to be done to his mother or people working in his organisation. His offices and bank accounts had also been frozen earlier.

Anyway, when a journalist, albeit one running a YouTube channel, is made to cower and forced to give up his vocation, one would have thought that the media organisations and press clubs would rally in inspired support, as this is a textbook case of threat to media freedom and speech rights. But till the time of writing, the press club in Chennai was maintaining an undignified silence, while the other self-anointed champions of free press are nowhere to be seen. It is both a sham and shame. 

The brazenness of the attack on Shankar's house was such that the whole act was put out live by one of the hired roughnecks through the phone of Shankar's mother (it was apparently snatched from her). This was criminal chutzpah.

The hoodlums ravaged the place after barging in as conservancy workers of Chennai, their grouse being that Savukku Shankar had allegedly badmouthed them in one of his videos.

The YouTuber, who was not at his house at the moment when the devastation happened, was advised by the cops to stay away from the place as his presence would further enrage the plunderers. In a sense, the attackers had a free run while the police kept waiting for them to disperse.

No arrests, no nothing 

Till the moment of writing, no arrest had been made or even an FIR registered. A In CSR has been issued with the CB-CID entrusted with the matter for further probe. (CSR is Community Service Register, a receipt issued for a non-cognizable offence complaint, used as proof of filing a complaint). This, while the perpetrators’ faces were clearly visible in the videos.

The police are decidedly unkeen to go after the marauders. Of course, under the current regime, Shankar is a free target as he has been a no-holds-barred critic of the State government. He had been jailed twice on flimsy charges, and multiple cases slapped on him just to make the judicial process complex and delay his bail or release. The courts have condemned the government for its high-handedness, but it doesn't seem to care.

The DMK has no love lost for Savukku Shankar as his prime targets in the last one year or so have been MK Stalin and Udhayanidhi Stalin. But in the recent act of devastation, the DMK may have been just an abettor, as Shankar has alleged that it was masterminded by Tamil Nadu Congress Committee Chief Selvaperunthagai.   

Shankar's claim is that it was done at the behest of Selvaperunthagai and the Greater Corporation Commissioner—for asking questions about distribution of modern sewage removal vehicles, commonly called sewage suction trucks.

Shankar’s claim against TNCC chief

Shankar later told the media: "I had revealed that the modern sewage removal vehicles were not given to the actual beneficiaries and most of them were received by the benamis of Tamil Nadu Congress committee president K. Selvaperunthagai. I have been talking about it since December 2024. I believe the attack was instigated by Selvaperunthagai."

His allegation is that 230 sewage treatment vehicles have been allocated to sanitation workers in Chennai. This scheme is supported by both Central and State government funds. However, he claims, only 87 vehicles reportedly reached genuine beneficiaries, while the rest are allegedly under the control of Selvaperunthagai's lackeys.

Shankar further stated that Selvaperunthagai had misappropriated Metro Water funds, and has allegedly invested them in a private company (that clandestinely  belonged to the TNCC chief) while only paying sanitation workers Rs 20,000 per month.

"All the money that comes out of this contract goes to that company and the sanitation workers, who pose as beneficiaries, are only given a monthly salary from the group company. The rest of the money goes to Selvaperunthagai,” Shankar alleged.

Shankar has dropped another, bigger bombshell. He claimed that Selvaperunthagai allegedly had a hand in the plot behind the murder of State BSP leader Armstrong in July 2024. He also charged that the Chennai City Police, which probed the murder of Armstrong, had failed to investigate the role of the TNCC President. "One of the key accused - Thiruvenkadam - who knew about the role of Selvaperunthagai in the murder was conveniently bumped off by the police in a fake encounter," he alleged. 

Of course, this is not a new charge. Bahujan Samaj Party's state unit had last year written to Rahul Gandhi himself, seeking to remove Selvaperunthagai for his alleged involvement in the murder.

"Selvaperunthagai planned this heinous assassination with the help of his henchmen. The ruling government DMK, and the police department were hesitant to arrest him," the BSP alleged. 

The TNCC chief is, of course, no stranger to criminal controversies. This former VCK partyman has 12 criminal cases pending against his name. He was detained under the Goondas Act when Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister. He even faced imprisonment on charges of murder of an auditor.

A former Congress MLA (of Sriperumbudur) had claimed that  Selvaperunthagai had joined the party only "to safeguard his ill-gotten wealth". The local Dalit community has also made its displeasure against his questionable ways well known. 

Rahul unconcerned

But despite such extraordinarily damaging state of affairs, both Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjuna Kharge seem unconcerned. If anything, the functioning of Congress in Tamil Nadu is symptomatic of the larger problems in the party.

Its politics on the contentious language issue and delimitation matter are different in Tamil Nadu to the one it espouses in the Hindi heartland. But the problems surrounding its State chief is something that the Congress high command should not take lightly. And it's not just him. Many TNCC leaders across the southern districts are using their proximity to the DMK and allegedly carrying out acts of corruption and crime.

It is also embarrassing for the DMK. Some voices in it are already wondering as to why they should carry the problems of their ally on their shoulders. The Congress has no real setup in the State and every one thinks himself/herself to be a leader and there are as many factions as there are members. It is a deadweight for the DMK. The latter is perhaps putting up with it not out of any ideological conviction, but more due to political compulsions, and for establishing some convenient media narrative in the north (The congress is the past master in this game, and its agents are embedded in many media houses).

But if the Congress high command continues to turn a blind eye to the problems unleashed by its leader in Tamil Nadu, even the DMK may be forced to act. And that would be another self-goal due to Rahul’s indifference.